“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”

Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

Monday morning, Dan’s first day back to work in sixteen months. (I made him lunch, a sandwich, Frito’s and an apple. He said he felt like he was going back to school.) I should be thrilled, shouldn’t I? Not so much. Yes, I am happy that there will be a paycheck, but I miss him terribly. We, with very few exceptions, have been together twenty-four hours a day for sixteen months. I’m feeling a little lost. I have spent my life hearing about how many wives lose their mind when their husbands retire, or hear complaints when the husband is even around for more than a few days. Not me, not us, we’re attached at the hip, and very happy about it. There is no ones company that I enjoy more than Dan’s, he is my best friend, the best one I’ve ever had. I fear adjusting to our time apart won’t be easy. Whats worse is that it took him two and a half hours to get to his new office. The new office is small, hot, and he still has that awful drive coming home. I am taking a short break from frantically trying to accomplish everything possible to get us on the move…out of this house! I’m still sad about moving, but as always my overriding concern is for Dan’s happiness. I need to get us to our next home, a much closer home than this. I just wanted to take the time to thank him for everything he does for me, is to me, and how much he loves and cares for me. Sometimes in the rush of life I think we take the people we care about for granted. I try to make sure that everyone in my life knows how much they mean to me, particularly the one that means the most. So this is my public pronouncement of gratitude for nearly thirty years of the kind of love that I wish most people could have.

Tonight a really special dinner (…and maybe a foot rub), a stress reliever after what I am sure is a long day. Anything to make him happy, because that makes me happy too.